[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 118 (Tuesday, September 10, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H5437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LET'S WORK TOGETHER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Congress returns to Washington this week after a 
month connecting with people at home, hopefully with a little time with 
family and friends.
  Some think our overwhelming agenda was made nearly impossible with 
the Syrian question, which no one expected when we recessed--somewhat 
ironic--even though 100,000 Syrians have been killed and 2 million 
refugees are flooding into neighboring countries.
  We face a looming budget showdown and a debt ceiling crisis. While we 
have futile votes to defund ObamaCare, the rest of the country is in 
the midst of a dramatic change in health care, perhaps the most 
profound in half a century. The health care reform train has left the 
station.
  What if we took a break from sabotaging ObamaCare and creating a debt 
ceiling crisis to do our job as representatives of the people and as 
leaders?
  What are we for?
  We might start with Syria. I have deep reservations about the use of 
force, but as one of the people who called upon the President to 
involve Congress in this decision, I think we have an obligation to at 
least hear him out. Let's work to refine the Russian proposal, which 
appears to have had some American origins.
  What about the 2 million refugees who need our help, to say nothing 
of their host countries?
  Let's seize upon some of the promising signs out of Iran, from their 
new leadership, to make progress, both in Syria and with the Iranian 
nuclear question.
  Domestically, let's spend our time rebuilding and renewing America, 
not just lamenting the poor shape of our infrastructure. Let's work 
together to support the vision and the resources to rebuild and renew 
the country and put Americans back to work.
  Internationally--I see my good friend and colleague, Congressman Ted 
Poe, on the floor. Why don't we zero in on the efforts with our 
international Water for the World legislation to help deal with 
sanitation and safe drinking water for poor people around the globe?
  Think about those 200 million hours women will spend in sub-Saharan 
Africa gathering water today, time that they won't spend in school or 
working for their families.
  Let's use the fall to identify and move forward on the vast array of 
things where we actually agree we can work together and they won't cost 
very much. America will be the better for it, and so will Congress.

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